Happy Christmas!

Have a wonderful Christmas!  I hope everyone is enjoying your vacation.  I sure am!  I'll post soon about what I've been up to these last few weeks.  I can't believe our vacation is almost over.  I'm having way too much fun...I really don't want to go back to work!  Maybe I'm eligible for the early retirement package???

From Today's L.A. Times

Low bar for lifetime job in L.A. schools

Los Angeles Unified often hands out tenure with little or no review of novice instructors' ability or their students' performance.

Check out the article.

Another Great L.A. Times Article!

Controlling a classroom isn't as easy as ABC

Among the top reasons why teachers are deemed unsuccessful or leave the profession is their inability to effectively manage student behavior, experts say.

Check it out!

From the L.A. Times

Children's Books 2009: It's all good! says Jon Scieszka
A report from the National Ambassador of Young People's Literature.
 
Check out the article!

Happy Sunday!

I hope everyone is having a great first weekend of vacation!  So far my weekend and vacation has been fantastic.  Friday night I went shopping, something I normally don't do the day after Thanksgiving.  The mall wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be.  Nice.  Last night I went to see Kathy Griffin at the Gibson Amphitheater...she was awesome and very foul-mouthed...love it!  Have a great Sunday!

Good Books

Trying to decide on the perfect Christmas gift?  How about a book?  Check out the New York Times' list of "100 Notable Books of 2009."  Sadly, I've only read two of the one hundred.  Guess I'd better get busy. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and an even better vacation!  I haven't posted in a while...I've been a bit distracted. 

"I Guess So."

Friday night I was at a phone store with a friend when a kid said hi to me.  I sort of recognized the kid and was sure that he didn't go to the school anymore.  So I said, "Hi, how are you?  I haven't seen you in a while.  What school are you going to now?"  He replied, "Whittier."  "Oh wow," I said, "I guess you've been keeping out of trouble and I must be totally out of it."  His dad said, "I guess so," referring to the totally out of it part of the statement.  Probably one of the most embarrassing moments I've had in a while.  Two things I need to do now:  when a kid says hi to me just smile and say hi, no small talk; and don't shop anywhere within 50 miles of the school.  Luckily, the rest of my weekend was awesome. 

"oh brother"

New Best Friend

My new best friend is first grader Julio.  We chat in the morning and we chat at lunch.  He really loves to chat.  Every day he seems to have a new joke for me.  I don't have the heart to tell him, but his jokes need some work.  The other day he asked me "What came first, the chicken or the egg?"  I guessed the chicken.  He said, "That's right."  He's so adorable!  Today we were chatting about reading and books.  I invited him to come to my office and borrow some of my books.  I told him I had a library in my office.  I don't think he believed me.  At lunch he came into my office to check out my books.  He looked at my books and said, "Dayummmmm."  How could you not have the biggest smile after that?  I love my new best friend!

Go Yankees!

The Dodgers are done for the year.  I'm not an Angels fan.  Ick.  And I'm certainly not going to route for the team that prevented the Dodgers from going to the World Series...so, that leaves the Yankees.  At least for this World Series, I'm a Yankees fan!  I need at least a few more weeks of baseball.

Chicken Breath

Today was baked chicken and mac 'n cheese day in the cafeteria.  Needless to say, the kids were very excited.  I have to admit, mac 'n cheese gets me excited too!  We're having a problem with some kids getting their lunch and then immediately throwing it away, thus not eating.  Not good.  Cyd pointed out one of the chronic lunch dumpers to me.  So, I told him that he'd better eat his lunch and that I would check out his breath to make sure he ate the chicken and mac 'n cheese.  About ten minutes later, he came up to me and invited me to smell his breath so I could check to see if he ate his chicken and mac 'n cheese.  I told him that I would take his word for it.  I'm not going to add breath smelling to my ever expanding list of school duties.  Nope.  Sometimes kids just crack me up!

From Time.com

Check out this article from Time.com.  The Time article discusses the effectiveness of the country's schools of education.  A couple days ago, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, gave a speech that indicated schools of education were not doing a good job of preparing teachers for the classroom.  Thinking back to my own teacher preparation, I can't remember taking a "this is how you become a good teacher 101" class.  I had a seminar on classroom management...that class should have been a little longer.  I was very fortunate to have been a college aide for several fantastic teachers who modeled great teaching for me.  I also had two outstanding master teachers who taught me many valuable skills that helped to prepare me for the classroom.  A lot of what I know about teaching and learning I learned as I did my teaching thing.  I also learned a lot from collaborating with my colleagues. 

I mean really, ALL the schools of education suck?  It seems lately that dumping on teachers and public education is coming back into fashion.  I'm not cool with that.

Must Read Articles from Today's L.A. Times

Superintendent spreads the gospel of 'value-added' teacher evaluations
In Tenn. and N.C., Terry Grier adopted and expanded a statistical method of tracking student progress. Union resistance scuttled more modest efforts in San Diego, mirroring a brewing national debate.

Commonly asked questions about the 'value-added' approach to teacher assessment

A New Vid From One of My Favorite Youtubers

A new vid from one of my favorite Youtubers, Soundlyawake...enjoy!

WTF?

This was sort of a WTF? weekend.  Remember back in the day there were the little motorized cars that kids would drive around in the yard or on the sidewalk in front of the house?  On Saturday, as I was leaving work, I noticed what looked like an old lady driving one down PCH...in the street!!  WTF?  Later that evening as I was on my way home from running my normal Saturday errands, I noticed a guy driving his motorized recliner.  Yes, a motorized recliner.  He even had a drink in his hand.  WTF?  I've discovered a new website http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/.  I love it.  On the site there are pictures of quirky looking people who happen to shop at Walmart.  No offense to any of you who are quirky and/or Walmart shoppers.  During my weekly trips to Target, I've started to notice many quirky and flat out scary people.  Maybe I should start snapping some pictures and posting them on a website.  I guess quirky and scary people are everywhere.  Dare I say even at Macys.  WTF?

Finally!

I'm Digging This Tune

From Today's L.A. Times

An education problem looms
In a time of layoffs, the state hopes to inspire a new generation of educators
 
Read the article.

Wednesday

Sad to say nothing really interesting happened today.  It was a busy yet quiet day.  I didn't get into too many classrooms today.  I'll make up for it tomorrow. 

Mr. Obvious

Today I visited a third grade classroom and sat down next to one of the kids and asked him what he was reading.  He said, "A book."  Guess I need to increase the rigor of my questions. 

Do You Work Here?

Today, during lunch, one of the kids asked me where I worked.  I didn't really know how to take that.  Hmmm, guess I need to stop slacking off and start actually doing some work around the place. 

CalPADS & CalTIDES

Obscure database is key to U.S. educational funds for California
The data system tracks student, teacher and administrator performance year to year but has barely gotten off the ground. Other states' systems improve student performance and hold schools accountable.

Read the L.A. Times article. 

A Long Week

This has been a long week. I'm totally exhausted. I'm so tired that I can barely type. I was going to stay up late and catch up on my DVRed shows, but I don't think I'll be able to stay awake. Skins and Project Runway will have to wait til tomorrow. I was thinking about vlogging (video blogging), so I set up a YouTube account. Funny thing is that I can't remember the username I set it up under. That's sad and pathetic. I'll try to remember tomorrow. I'm totally fascinated by YouTube. I really got into it over our summer break. I can't believe all the crazy and goofy videos people post. It's so cool to see videos of my favorite tunes from the 80s and the old cartoons and shows like the Banana Splits and the Buggaloos. Good times. If I can't remember my YouTube account, I guess I can set up a new one. So if I start vlogging, I'll really have to be careful what I say...or maybe not.

From Today's L.A. Times

Dropouts costing California $1.1 billion annually in juvenile crime costs
Study finds that cutting the dropout rate in half would save $550 million and prevent 30,000 juvenile crimes a year. Law enforcement urges more dropout-prevention programs.

Read the article.

Race to the Top - So education is a race now?

California's State Superintendent of Public Instruction Comments on Race to the Top

July 24, 2009
State Schools Chief Jack O'Connell
Comments on "Race to the Top"

SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today issued the following statement regarding President Obama's launching of the federal "Race to the Top" competition, which allows states to compete for $4.35 billion in education funds if they fulfill the competition's criteria.

"Without question, 'The Race for the Top' fund will be one of the boldest and farthest-reaching efforts to implement meaningful reform in our nation's schools in generations.

"The over-arching goals of the education community must be to increase student achievement and close achievement gaps, and I applaud the Obama Administration for making these two points a focus of their education reform efforts.

"While every one of our states is unique in the needs of its students, as a nation we must make a united commitment to a number of important, core philosophies, including increasing effective teaching, developing globally competitive standards and assessments, turning around low-performing schools and improving data systems to become continuous learning systems that guide decision making.

"As the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, I am wholly committed to ensuring that California is actively engaged in this national conversation. And so, I look forward to joining Governor Schwarzenegger and the State Board of Education in working with the President and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to move forward this ambitious agenda for change.

"Of course, as with any push for significant change, there will be legitimate concerns. Certainly, these guidelines call for some hard decisions by California educators and policymakers, and while this is not an easy conversation to have, it is the right conversation to have.

"While I generally agree with the intent and the focus of the proposed guidelines, there also are some specific areas with which I disagree. Specifically, I would like to point out what I believe to be a misunderstanding about the law surrounding our data systems. California law does not prevent any school district from using the state's student assessment results for purposes of evaluation or compensation. It only prohibits the use of this data to evaluate individual teachers at the state level. This is simply a matter of local control that appropriately ensures school districts handle their own personnel decisions.

"Regardless of this disagreement or any others, I look forward to beginning this effort to effectively communicate our thoughts and any potential changes to the guidelines over the next month."

Get to Know Arne

Mr. J

Last week a third grader came up to me and asked me "Can I call you Mr. J." I look puzzled at him and said "no." He shook his head and said "wait" and counted his fingers and then said "I mean Mr. G." Then I said "ok" and walked away. Someone needs to take another look at his Open Court sound/spelling cards.

Beautiful

Second Week of School

The honeymoon is over.  The kids are definitely feeling a bit comfortable with being back at school.  Three suspensions last week.  Not good.  Two of them involved a fight after school.  There are just too many of them and not enough of us.  Our rec aide budget has been almost slashed in half.  If we could double our rec aide staff, I'm sure we would have very few problems.  A larger rec aide staff would mean I could have rec aides assist with supervision of recess (which is also a problem time - but shouldn't be).  Such a small amount of money would make such a huge impact.  We'll continue to do the best we can with what we have.   

State Budget Impacts Class Size Across the State

Interesting article from today's L.A. Times.  I'm wondering if our class sizes will go up in the near future?  How are we going to squeeze any more kids into those tiny first grade rooms?  What a nightmare. 

Check out the article.

Safe Harbor

Great news came across my computer screen today...NO Program Improvement!!!  Nice!  Due to our strong ELA and Math gains, we got a one year reprieve from PI.  The alternate method of calculating our PI status is called "Safe Harbor."  When I hear that, I think of Gilligan's Island.  I guess that makes me the Skipper?  I'd rather be the Professor.  Hmmm, who would be Gilligan?  Mary Ann?  Ginger?  Would Carlos and Myra be Mr. and Mrs. Howell??  Got to find me a fog horn to use at Staff Development meetings.

I'm Boring

Today I held behavior expectation assemblies for first, second, and third grades. As the first graders were leaving after their assembly, the cafeteria ladies overheard one of the first graders say, "That assembly was boring as hell." I thought I was pretty enthusiastic, almost peppy. Everyone's got to be a critic. I guess I should be grateful that he didn't come up to me during the assembly and take the microphone out of my hand and say that someone else should be leading the assembly.

Haircut Thoughts

Today I decided to get my hair cut. It was a total spur of the moment thing. I usually never get my hair cut on the weekend. The place is always so busy. Today I lucked out. I didn't have to wait. Nice. I'm such a weirdo (in so many ways). I get my hair cut every two weeks. Like clockwork. I can not go more than 15 days without a cut. I know, weird. Another weird thing is that I don't really like to talk to the stylist as she's cutting my hair. I hate it. No chit chat, just cut the hair. Luckily, the place I go to has stylists who don't like to talk either. It's a win, win. So, today as I'm sitting and getting my hair cut I was wondering what do people think about when they're getting their hair cut? Usually, I'm thinking "Please don't screw up my hair, please!" Or, "Dayum, this floor is dirty!" Or, "Will someone please tell that kid to shut up!" Or, "Hmmmm, what should I have for dinner tonight?" Lots of times I'm thinking about what I need to do at work. Or, I'm rehashing an unpleasant incident and wondering if I could have handled it in a different way. Too bad they don't have TVs in the place. That would be awesome! What do you think about when you're getting your hair cut (if you have hair)?

First Week

I can't believe it's year six already. Time is fun when you have flies. The first week of school was GREAT. I'm not lying (this time). It was scary calm. I kept waiting for the crazy stuff to happen. It didn't happen. The kids seemed to be pretty excited about starting school. During my visits, they were focused and engaged. Even lunch recess was calm. Such a huge difference from last year. I hope it lasts. Only time will tell. I'm definitely excited about the possibilities for this year. Despite all the craziness last year, our scores increased big time. Yup, it's going to be a great year. Word?